Samuel L. Pitkin

Last updated
General

Samuel L. Pitkin
Born(1803-04-01)April 1, 1803
Hartford, CT
DiedFebruary 18, 1845(1845-02-18) (aged 41)
East Hartford, CT
Allegiance Flag of the United States.svg United States
Service/branchFlag of the United States Army.svg  United States Army
Rank Major General
Commands held Connecticut State Militia
Alma mater Norwich University
Spouse(s)Mary Ann Lewis
Signature Pitkin Signature.jpg
Website www.ct.gov/mil

Samuel L. Pitkin, born in Hartford, Connecticut on April 1, 1803, was the Adjutant General for the State of Connecticut from 1837 to 1839. He was a member of the Pitkin family of Hartford, who were very active in politics, the military, industry and banking in early Connecticut. His great-great-great grandfather, William Pitkin, emigrated to the new world from England in 1635 after receiving an inheritance. His grandson, also named William Pitkin would serve as governor of Connecticut Colony from 1766 to 1769. [1]

Contents

Pitkin Family Lineage

Samuel’s family traces its roots to William, who immigrated to the United States with a sizeable inheritance and a legal education. The family settled on the east side of the Connecticut River in what is now East Hartford, Connecticut but was then Hartford. With their proximity to the political center of the colony and the industrial and economic power of the Connecticut River, the family was in a prime position to prosper. His son, also named William, would continue to be involved in law and rise to the position of Chief Justice of the Superior Court. He would also establish Pitkin Mills in what became the Burnside village of East Hartford that was dominated by various mills.

The family established clothing mills and continued to educate the males in the field of law. Their legal training enabled them to become active in politics by assisting in settling civil disputes. Samuel’s great-great uncle, William III, was known for his fairness and skill as a mediator and was appointed to the Council of War in 1740. This began the family’s involvement in military affairs in the state. He ultimately became governor of the colony in 1766 until his death in 1769. [2]

Exit sign off of Route 2 to Pitkin Street in East Hartford, Connecticut, in honor of the Pitkin family Pitkin Street.JPG
Exit sign off of Route 2 to Pitkin Street in East Hartford, Connecticut, in honor of the Pitkin family

Samuel’s great grandfather, Joseph, continued the tradition of political and military service, rising to the rank of colonel of the 1st Regiment in 1751 as well as serving for twenty years on the Connecticut General Assembly. The family also became involved in the religious leadership of the community where Joseph became a Deacon of the Third Church of Hartford. In addition to inheriting Pitkin Mills and running it with his brothers, he started Forge Falls, a producer of gunpowder that would be outlawed by the British Parliament in 1750 and manufacture powder for the Continental Army during the American Revolution. [1]

Pitkin Glassworks was created by the next generation of which Samuel’s grandfather, Squire Elisha Pitkin was a contributor in current Manchester, CT. The glassworks would contribute greatly to the financial fortunes of the family as the company was granted a 25-year monopoly for the manufacturing of glass in Connecticut by the General Assembly (of which many family members were representatives). [3]

Samuel Pitkin, the father of Samuel L. Pitkin, served in the General Assembly for thirteen years to continue the family tradition of political service. He also served as a Deacon in the Third Church of Hartford and established the Sabbath School, serving as its first superintendent.

Early life

Samuel L. Pitkin was the youngest of three children and only son born to Samuel Pitkin and Sarah Parsons. His older sisters were Sarah (born February 21, 1794) and Frances (born May 1, 1799). He attended school in Hartford and attended the American Literary, Scientific, and Military Academy in 1821, shortly after the founding of the school in 1819 in Norwich, Vermont. He wrote a series of letters that are currently being preserved by the school that relate his experiences at the school. He graduated in 1823. [4]

Career

Upon graduation he continued the family tradition of being involved in military service, politics and business. He worked at Pitkin Mills, where the mill continued the production of gunpowder for military units in Connecticut and throughout the new nation. He also served as state senator for Connecticut’s second district, representing the City of East Hartford. [1]

Having received military training while at college, Samuel entered military service in the State of Connecticut and was appointed to Adjutant General in 1837 at the age of 34. Under his command, the Connecticut State Militia expanded by five companies and grew to a strength of 29,967 men. Under state law at the time, all able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 45 in the state were required to enrolling in the state militia but there were no laws administering a punishment if they did not. General Pitkin advocated the passing of state statutes to fine personnel who failed to enroll and also to fine those who left service without returning equipment. He also advocated modernizing the militia with modern equipment as tension with Mexico continued to increase. [5]

Personal life

Samuel married Mary Ann Lewis of New Haven, Connecticut in 1831. They would have five children: Charles Lewis Pitkin, William Henry Pitkin, Sarah Augusta Pitkin, Marianna Lewis Pitkin, and James Sherwood Pitkin. He would die suddenly on February 18, 1845, in East Hartford, CT.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manchester, Connecticut</span> Town in Connecticut, United States

Manchester is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region. As of the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 59,713. The urban center of the town is the Manchester census-designated place, with a population of 36,379 at the 2020 census. The town is named after Manchester, in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oliver Wolcott</span> American Founding Father and politician

Oliver Wolcott Sr. was an American Founding Father and politician. He was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation as a representative of Connecticut, and the nineteenth governor of Connecticut. Wolcott was a major general for the Connecticut militia in the Revolutionary War serving under George Washington.

The U.S. state of Connecticut began as three distinct settlements of Puritans from Massachusetts and England; they combined under a single royal charter in 1663. Known as the "land of steady habits" for its political, social and religious conservatism, the colony prospered from the trade and farming of its ethnic English Protestant population. The Congregational and Unitarian churches became prominent here. Connecticut played an active role in the American Revolution, and became a bastion of the conservative, business-oriented, Constitutionalism Federalist Party.

John Haynes, also sometimes spelled Haines, was a colonial magistrate and one of the founders of the Connecticut Colony. He served one term as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and was the first governor of Connecticut, ultimately serving eight separate terms. Although Colonial Connecticut prohibited Governors from serving consecutive terms at the time, "John Haynes was so popular with the colonists that he served alternately as governor and often as deputy governor from 1639 to his death in 1653."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William B. Franklin</span> American general

William Buel Franklin was a career United States Army officer and a Union Army general in the American Civil War. He rose to the rank of a corps commander in the Army of the Potomac, fighting in several notable battles in the Eastern Theater of the Civil War. He also distinguished himself as a civil engineer before and after the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Ludlow</span> English lawyer, founder and deputy governor of Connecticut Colony

Roger Ludlow (1590–1664) was an English lawyer, magistrate, military officer, and colonist. He was active in the founding of the Colony of Connecticut, and helped draft laws for it and the nearby Massachusetts Bay Colony. Under his and John Mason's direction, Boston's first fortification, later known as Castle William and then Fort Independence was built on Castle Island in Boston harbor. Frequently at odds with his peers, he eventually also founded Fairfield and Norwalk before leaving New England entirely.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merrow Sewing Machine Company</span>

The Merrow Sewing Machine Company, best known for inventing the overlock sewing machine, is a manufacturer of sewing machines. After the explosion of his gunpowder mill in 1837, in 1838 J.M. Merrow built a knitting mill on the same site. The company developed crocheting machines for its own use and by 1887 evolved to design, build and market sewing machines exclusively. During its early decades it was organized as a partnership under various names: established in 1838 as Joseph M. Merrow & Sons by J. Makens Merrow, then Pitkin, Merrow, & Co., renamed Merrow Manufacturing Co. in 1857, then Merrow and Millard in 1863, J.B. Merrow and Sons in 1870, and incorporated as The Merrow Manufacturing Company in 1893. Originally all of its manufacturing was done at facilities in Merrow, Connecticut, and then in Hartford, Connecticut, after 1894. The company is currently based in Fall River, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Wolcott (Connecticut politician)</span> American judge

Roger Wolcott was an American weaver, statesman, and politician from Windsor, Connecticut. He served as colonial governor of Connecticut from 1751 to 1754.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Connecticut Military Department</span> Component of the US National Guard of the state of Connecticut

The Connecticut Military Department is a state agency of the government of Connecticut. Its primary components are the Connecticut Army National Guard, the Connecticut Air National Guard, and four companies of the state militia. The Military Department of the State of Connecticut traces its origins to May 11, 1637, when the "General Courts" established a military arm of the provincial government. In 1939, the State's Military Department was established to consolidate the offices of Adjutant General, Quartermaster General, Armory Board, and Armory Board Inspector.

David Hawley (1741–1807) was a captain in the Continental Navy and a privateer during the American Revolutionary War. He commanded Royal Savage in the 1776 Battle of Valcour Island, which is generally regarded as one of the first naval battles of the American Revolutionary War, and one of the first fought by the United States Navy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Hawley</span>

Robert Hawley (1729–1799), Captain, raised provisions for the Continental soldiers and fought in the American Revolutionary War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pitkin Glassworks Ruin</span> Archaeological site in Connecticut, United States

The Pitkin Glassworks Ruin is a historic industrial archaeological site at the junction of Parker and Putnam Streets in Manchester, Connecticut. It contains the remains of one of the oldest glass factories in New England, established in 1783. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

William Phelps, was a Puritan who emigrated from Crewkerne, England in 1630, one of the founders of both Dorchester, Boston Massachusetts and Windsor, Connecticut, and one of eight selected to lead the first democratic town government in the American colonies in 1637. He was foreman of the first grand jury in New England, served most of his life in early colonial government, and according to noted historian Henry Reed Stiles, Phelps "was one of the most prominent and highly respected men in the colony."

William Pitkin was a colonial governor of the Connecticut Colony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Olcott</span> American judge

Peter Olcott was a Vermont public official and military officer who served as a brigadier general in the colonial militia, the sixth lieutenant governor of the Vermont Republic, and the first lieutenant governor of the state of Vermont.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Enos</span> American politician

Roger Enos was a colonial Vermont political and military leader during the American Revolution. In 1775, he took part in Benedict Arnold's expedition to Quebec, and he later commanded the Vermont Militia as a major general.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Connecticut Adjutant General</span> American military officer rank

The Adjutant General of Connecticut is the highest-ranking military officer in the Armed Forces of the State of Connecticut which includes the Connecticut National Guard, the four units of the Governor's Guards, the Connecticut State Guard, the Connecticut State Guard Reserve and the Connecticut Naval Militia. The current Adjutant General is Major General Francis J. Evon, Jr. He was appointed to a four-year term effective July 1, 2018.

Justin Hodge, born in Roxbury, Massachusetts on April 21, 1815, was a Connecticut politician who served in the state legislature for many years. He represented his hometown of Barkhamstead as a loyal member of the Democratic Party. He served in the U.S. Army during the Civil War as well as the Mexican War before that. He briefly served as the Adjutant General of Connecticut in 1855.

William Porter Burrall was an American politician and railroad executive.

Joseph D. Williams, born in Lebanon, Connecticut in 1818, was an American general. He was the twelfth Adjutant General of the State of Connecticut. He was elected to the Connecticut State Legislature, and was appointed Adjutant General and Paymaster General in 1855. He was a member of the Connecticut Historical Society, Good Templars, and son of the American Revolution, and he was a Republican.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Carpenter-Pitkin Family History" . Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  2. "Connecticut State Library" . Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  3. "Manchester Historical Society". Archived from the original on 11 June 2010. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  4. Samuel Leonard Pitkin Papers, 1816–1824
  5. Report of the Adjutant General to His Excellency the Governor of Connecticut – 1839
Military offices
Preceded by Connecticut Adjutant General
1837 - 1839
Succeeded by